Hello, There Friends!

Hello to everyone! It is a BEAUTIFUL day today in Memphis, Tennessee!! I just came in from an afternoon walk outside--(yes, trying to earn a few WW points for dessert tonight!)--and it was a bit hard to come back inside. However, all we really have left this afternoon is diagramming predicate nominatives and reviewing for the big poetry exam tomorrow. Then it is time for carpool duty--OUTSIDE!! :)

These last couple of weeks have been challenging ones. I found myself in church last Sunday--listening to the Scripture being read--when it came upon the verse in Ephesians that made my heart stop. I was actually a bit behind in flipping to the passage, and the pastor began to read before I had arrived. "It just so happened" to be a precious verse that my St. Norbert kids had memorized and dramatized in their own funny third grade way. "Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may GO WELL WITH YOU, and that you may live a long life on the Earth. Ephesians 6 something. (sorry, kids, I forgot the address!!) Anyway, as if a dam had been allowed to open, tears poured. And poured. And poured. In fact, just could not pull myself together! We had to leave church a bit early due to my mini breakdown. Jonny was so sweet to leave immediately when I told him I thought we should go...he had even gone to get me a mess of Kleenex! (And, I need to add that by leaving early we were forfeiting our free hotdog/hamburger lunch provided by the Elders after the service! So, it was quite the sacrifice for Jonny to bail out on unlimited amounts of food and Diet Coke!)

Later that evening, Keri popped up to my room--eager to see if I was okay. I explained to her what had happened...with the verse and all. She had a very wise thing to say. She said, "You know, Julie, when you are in a far away and cold place like Chicago, you feel like it is okay to be sad and to miss your friends and the things that are so familiar to you. But when you move someplace you really want to be---like Memphis---with friends, family, and familiar Southern things all around...it is probably hard to feel like you should be able to miss the things you left behind." She was right! I had been feeling guilty about missing Chicago---(It is hard to cry and be sad while you are living in your best friend's house....It seems ungrateful!) PLUS , our lives have been a whirlwind since we have arrived here....hardly any time allowed to mourn such huge losses in friends, church, and things familiar!

Well, it is time to diagram! I will write more later.

Love you all.

Julie